The Journal's own Heidi Walters has been named a national finalist for beat reporting by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. We entered just a few of her wonderful and diverse pieces of environmental reporting: Bright Bird, about research into bird intelligence; The World is Yours, Oyster Farmer, about aquaculture in Humboldt Bay, and A Place in the Woods, about threatened closures of state parks.

Winners will be announced on July 13 at the association's annual conference in Miami.